The New Year’s Eve television sketch traditionally broadcast in Germany and several other European countries is Dinner for One.
The English-language comedy sketch was written by British author Lauri Wylie and performed by Freddie Frinton and May Warden. Its plot centers on Miss Sophie’s birthday dinner, at which her absent guests are represented by her butler, James. James repeatedly serves drinks and courses while imitating the missing guests, producing the sketch’s famous repeated line, “The same procedure as every year.”
Although the sketch is British in origin, it became an especially strong New Year’s Eve tradition in Germany. A German television recording made in 1963 helped establish its recurring holiday status, and broadcasts also became customary in countries including Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland.
The title can mislead English-speaking viewers into assuming it was created for German television. It was not: the performance is in English, and its later continental popularity far exceeded its original British cultural impact. Dinner for One is a television tradition, not the name of a New Year’s Eve meal.